COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHIC EVALUATION OF GASTRIC EMPHYSEMA - A REPORT OF 3 CASES

We present three patients, one male and two females, who had gastric e mphysema demonstrated by computed tomography (CT) by chance. All patie nts had adenocarcinoma of the gastric antrum resulting in gastric outl et obstruction. We have classified these as the obstructive type of ga stric emphysema. An additional cause in two of our patients could be a recent biopsy at UGI endoscopy. In one patient the emphysema was loca lized and the diagnosis could only have been made by CT. The two other patients had the usual pattern of extensive mural gas along the great er and lesser curvature of the stomach while dissection of gas into th e retroperitoneum was present in one of them. There were no systemic e ffects attributable to the emphysema in all three patients. This reinf orces the belief that gastric emphysema is not infective in origin.